Factors Behind the Fall of China's Ming Dynasty

Introduction and Overview

The many and varied factors that led to the fall of the Chinese Ming Dynasty are pertinent from both a historical and cultural perspective. In his book The Glory and Fall of the Ming Dynasty, author Albert Chan writes that "the very fact that it lasted for nearly three centuries" indicates that the Ming Dynasty certainly had its strong points. Years of association with scholars and a "sound knowledge of history" helped the Hung-wu emperor avoid the mistakes that previous emperors had made. Chan insists that it is historically fair to describe the Hung-wu emperor as a "ruler of genius" (p. 376). It was the Hung-wu emperor who realized that an "overpowerful military class" — giving too much power to generals — might mean soldiers would obey their commanders rather than the government. He also recognized that family interests could encroach on his authority, and he tried to maintain control over all aspects of governing.

Unfortunately, Chan continues, the efforts of emperors notwithstanding, wealthy farmers kept pushing poor farmers off the land, and those displaced peasants in time formed part of the rebel forces (p. 384). Land taxes escalated as well, placing mounting pressure on peasants to meet their obligations. From the Wan-li emperor until the end of the dynasty, emperors "not satisfied with their ordinary income, went out of their way to make extraordinary profits at the expense of the people" (Chan, p. 384). By the late sixteenth century, wars with Japan, with the tribes of Po-chou in Szechuan, and with the Manchus required two hundred thousand soldiers, and the cost to the Ming government amounted to several million silver taels.

These enormous sums required to fund wars translated into ever-increasing taxes drawn from the pockets of people who were slowly losing faith in their government. While these tensions rose, the standard of ethical conduct in the highest places of government "fell very low" (p. 385). The last ruler prior to the fall of the dynasty, Ni Yuan-lu (who ruled from 1593 to 1644), declared that the dynasty's final thirty years passed through three stages. First, the emperor "shut himself up in his palace, and left his ministers to their cat and dog fight" (p. 385). The second phase saw the eunuchs gain the "upper hand" and effectively take complete control of the government. Finally, power became entirely concentrated in the emperor's hands; during this last phase, the virtuous suffered while the wicked were able to coax everything they needed for their power bases from the emperor.

After the Manchu invasion and the guerrilla wars waged by rebels — many of them ordinary peasants who had been pushed off their land by the noble class or taxed to such an extent that they could no longer survive — the Ming Dynasty was ready to topple.

Works Cited

Chan, Albert. The Glory and Fall of the Ming Dynasty. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982.

Meskill, John. "Academies and Politics in the Ming Dynasty." In Chinese Government in Ming Times, ed. Charles O. Hucker, 149–174. New York: Columbia University Press.

Parsons, James Bunyan. The Peasant Rebellions of the Late Ming Dynasty. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1970.

Spence, Jonathan D., and Wills, John E., Jr. From Ming to Ch'ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.